Lou Ella Rose
Life Long Creative Cultivator
An Asian Cultural Council Fellow and Chicago DCASE Individual Artist Program Grantee for 2024, LOU ELLA ROSE Cabalona is a multidisciplinary artist based in Chicago. A singer-songwriter, actor, playwright, producer, and voice-over artist, her credentials include memorable works in theater, TV, concerts, and festivals across three countries – the Philippines, Singapore, and the USA.
Hailed as one of Chicago Cabaret’s Emerging Artists in 2022, she is the founder and Artistic Director of the Filipino Folk fusion band, SamaSama Project and the progenitor of The Great Filipino Songbook (TGFS), a cabaret-style musical that weaves Filipino American history and the lives of the greatest Filipino composers through a re-imagining of memorable Filipino songs written during the time the Philippines was annexed to the USA. TGFS the album is set to be released in October 2024.
Lou Ella Rose and SamaSama Project was recognized as Best World Music Act first runner-up for Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago 2023 and was selected as one of only 20 semi-finalists for Chicago DCASE’s Chicago Made Music Showcase besting close to 200 artists. She was one of the inaugural delegates of the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO) in 2012 and was past President in 2021. She is an awardee of the 18th Annual Chicago Philippine American Hall of Fame awards.
Lou Ella Rose is an active community leader, sharing her knowledge through workshops, summer music camps, and speaking at youth conferences in Midwestern universities. Over the past decades, she led various charity events for victims of calamities in the Philippines through Illinois Philippine Recovery Operations (ILPRO) and for medical missions in underserved areas in the Philippines with the League Of Volunteers for relief Expeditions (L.O.V.E.).
She serves as part of the Board of Directors for Asian Pop-Up Cinema the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Chicago (PACCGC), and Chinese Mutual Aid Association (CMAA) (Associate), non-profits that advocate for and amplify the voice of Asian Americans in business and the arts.